Nurse-Delivered Antiretroviral Treatment Adherence Intervention for People With Low Literacy Skills and Living With HIV/AIDS

People living with HIV/AIDS who have lower health literacy show poorer treatment adherence and more adverse health outcomes. The authors undertook the development and pilot testing of a brief HIV treatment adherence improvement counseling intervention for people with lower health literacy who were taking antiretroviral medications. Guided by a theory of health behavior change, health education principles for lower literacy populations, and formative research, the authors designed a two-session plus one booster session nurse-delivered HIV treatment adherence intervention. Results from a pilot test with 30 HIV-positive men and women with lower health literacy showed that the intervention increased HIV/AIDS knowledge, intentions to improve adherence, and self-efficacy for adhering to medications. Participants exposed to the intervention also showed improvement in medication adherence, with reductions in numbers of missed pills and reductions in numbers of doses taken off-schedule. These results suggest that relatively brief behavioral interventions that are tailored for people with lower health literacy may have a significant impact on health-related behaviors.